Current wireless and broadband communication technologies bring a variety of notifications using electronic devices, such as mobile phones, computers, televisions, etc. Such notifications help people maintain awareness of interesting information. Sometimes, however, the notifications can be an unwelcome interruption of a user's primary task.
Systems currently exist wherein a user can select different preferences associated with notifications. Such specific and directed user control can help to alleviate unwanted messages. Other systems can adapt notifications by tracking and inferring the user's current state and surrounding circumstances. Such systems can include a model that calculates how easily and clearly a message will be recognized. For example, a system can attempt to calculate the user's attentive state as discerned by his/her current activity. Some systems even attempt to detect whether the user's visual attention is directed towards the phone.
Sophisticated modeling that tracks user location, movement patterns, and user attention can be overly expensive to develop. Additionally, such systems can be slow and prone to error. A simpler system is needed that can eliminate or otherwise reduce unwanted messages.